The Lost Art of Sportsmanship

Bad Examples for Millington Youth

Recently, I was informed that some youth sports officials would no longer accept assignments in Millington. Why?

Bad sportsmanship. Not on the players’ part. It’s the parents!

I was told that police have even been called to two recent Millington matches to separate parents of elementary-aged children. Really?

If the parents cannot or will not teach respect for authority and that winning is not everything, who will? So, for parents who do wish to teach their children the better (and biblical) way, I have compiled three examples. Discuss these with your children at your evening meal:

London Soccer: Leicester was losing 1-0 at half time. One of their players collapsed in the dressing room. Fearing that his life was in danger, the game was called off and the decision made to replay it three weeks later. At the kick-off of the replay the entire Leicester team stood to one side to allow the other team to restore their lead that they had had in the previous game. Leicester did however go on the win the game, and earned the respect of both sets of fans.

World Soccer: In 2000, Paolo di Canio displayed a moment of sportsmanship that was in contrast to other incidents during his career. He found himself in front of an open goal. But, instead of tapping in to score the winning point, di Canio caught the ball and signaled that an opponent was on the ground in writhing pain and needed urgent attention. This act earned him a standing ovation from supporters.

American Women’s Softball: The Western Oregon softball team’s Sara Tucholsky slammed what appeared to be a three-run homer over the centerfield fence, the senior's first in either high school or college. But Tucholsky wrenched her knee severely at first base and collapsed. Umpires ruled that a pinch-runner could replace Tucholsky and run the bases, but the rules said she would be credited with a single and only two runs would count. So, after being assured there was no rule against it, opponent Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace carried Tucholsky around the bases, allowing her to touch her good leg to each bases, completing her homer and adding a run to a 4-2 loss that eliminated the Wildcats from postseason.

It cost them the season, but no one regrets it. What do you think?

Our Society Today

OUR SOCIETY

A society can be judged by how we treat the most helpless among us.

The single most helpless life is a “fetus” (Greek for “baby”). We have aborted 50 million lives in what is supposed to be the safest place on earth, their own mother’s wombs. This loss of 50 millions souls is also a loss of a large work force as well. This is one reason why Social Security is bankrupt, as many of the terminated children would be working and paying in their share during the 37 years since abortion was legalized.

Further, people are quick to blame God for things like cancer. However, it is possible that the scientist destined to cure cancer was sent, and was aborted. Ironically, many who are rabid in their support for healthcare reform do not believe in the right of healthcare for the unborn. Future generations may well look back on this as the “slavery of our time”… a time when one “race” of people had no rights. Not even the right to life.

The way our society treats the elderly is also troubling. Nursing Homes in Tennessee are the fifth worse in the whole nation. Many chronically under staff and have trouble with getting good aides when they do hire one. No doubt there are some who just cannot be cared for at home. And, there are certainly good nursing homes out there, but I wind up having to sue those that mistreat the elderly, allow infected bedsores and repeated falls.

I often say that the World War II generation was our finest generation. Too many are just shelved at nursing homes while their children’s worlds are in turmoil due to serial divorces and constant activity. The economy seems to be set up for both parents to have to work outside the home, and thus entrust the state with the education of the children. This is a very recent concept. All this hurts another class of people: our children.

Were things really better “Back in the good old days?” In the 1950’s, a couple's work schedules in the 1950s, the husband probably had a 40-hour working week. The time commuting to work was much lower and other activities probably accounted for 55-60 hours of his waking time. The mother was often a stay-at-home mother, and usually took a job as a teacher, nurse or secretary to pay extra bills from time to time. There was more time and enough money to support this home-centered lifestyle.

Now, our kids are busy too. Many parents have their children involved in a whole range of outside activities such as competitive sports. Oddly, this is in an effort to give our kids the best in life. Some of the sports actually play on Sundays, preventing church attendance as a family. What little theology is taught today to kids is poked fun of at school, as atheistic evolution is taught as fact! Parents have missed the main thing to teach children, which is how to have a personal relationship with Christ, because it was not taught to them. Lost in one generation! Families are rarely sitting down at the table to eat dinner together in our society. And if many families did, they would be too busy texting friends to talk.

The way we treat our unborn children, our elderly and our young children tell much about our society. The world was not always like this. It does not have to continue to spiral downward. No one can change things in your family until someone decides they need to change. Decide to be a family that has dinner together, that attends a Bible-teaching church together, that honors traditional marriage, that takes a stand on issues based on principles (not convenience) and that makes a difference for the short time we are here.